Forrest Gregg, who earned the nickname "Iron Man" for playing in a then-record 188 consecutive NFL games during his Hall of Fame career, has told The Associated Press he's been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.

I don't know that doing sports causes Parkinson's Disease. I wish they would find out the causes. My husband just played football in highschool and only golfs occasionally and was diagnosed at age 59. He was a farmer and a developmental service worker (works with the mentally handicapped) so can you figure out why he got the disease?

Lynnie2, There is a school of thought that exposure to chemicals in some fertilizers and pesticides used in farming might in some people cause Parkinsonism (a term used for Parkinson's when there is a known or considered cause. The difference between those two being Parkinson's Disease is idiopathic or of unknown origin and cause. ) Like Welders contracting Parkinson's from manganese poisoning. ......Well you asked so I figured I'd let You and Your Husband know about these things You can look them up online and see if anything seems to fit. Take care, best of luck and hang in there.

P.S. feel free to email me at LOHENGR1N@aol.com if you want. Just put P.D. or something like that so I don't delete it before reading.

Lynnie2....My guy has a parkinson's plus disease Lewy Body disease..that they do say could have originated form the TBI..Traumatic Brain Injury he had some 10+ years ago....There are some other sports folks who have this disease too who I believe keep it private....I have seen some older hockey players and after you have PD or are around someone who has it for a while..you get to recognize the signs...so I know they at least have early symptoms and they are researching now about concussions related to PD also...so there is that possiblity if your husband was hit enough in the head..using the old helmets..that it could have developed from his football dyas... But again it's undetermined and they are just "thinking" on those lines

You could be right about the sprays, but I don't know about the concussions. He never had a concussion. Every summer and fall he would spray the weeds around the lawns and he didn't wear any mask and he would spray the fields too. However, how do you explain how other farmers, e.g. fruit farmers spray the fruit trees and they don't have PD or the tobacco farmers who go into the smoke barns. Maybe it's the sprays that affect some people, but it makes me think that there are several reasons that Parkinson's develops. Athletes don't do any of this and get PD.

If we just knew what the causes are then we could warn people. It's an awful disease. My husband's progression is slow, thankfully. I hope they find a curse soon!